Associated Press| New York Times- A position-by-position look at the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals going into the World Series, starting Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium: 1B: Even, 2B: Mets, SS: Royals, 3B: Mets, C: Royals, LF: Mets, CF: Royals, RF: Mets, DH: Royals, SP: Mets, RP: Royals, Bench: Mets, Manager: Mets......Outcome: Mets in 6. Again, if Cespedes is healthy.
(Chris Soto: This is a very even World Series matchup....one that could end up going the distance. Unlike the Cubs, who the Mets just obliterated due to the Cubs propensity to strike out, the Royals are a scrappy bunch who can put the ball in play and make things happen on the basepaths. In order for the Mets to be successful, they will need their SP to go right after these Royals hitters. DO NOT try for the K, they will just run up your pitch count, instead....try and induce weak contact and let your defense do the work....Hopefully Flores is up to the task.)

Josh Peelman| Empire Writes Back- The wait is over. The New York Mets have revealed who they intend to start for their first four games of the World Series versus the Kansas City Royals. Up first, the Mets have decided to go with Matt Harvey as their starter for Game 1 and Jacob deGrom in Game 2. Next up in Game 3 will be Noah Syndergaard, followed by Steven Matz in Game 4. Collins was cautious of using deGrom as his starter in Game 1, mostly because he felt the young pitcher was experiencing fatigue, and the task of playing beyond the regular season was catching up to him. He has struggled to find location with his fastball in recent games leading to quite a few tight spots for the young pitcher.
(Chris Soto: Collins is making the right choice here in terms of his rotation for the World Series. deGrom has in fact looked tired and has seriously labored through his last 2 starts. This configuration will give him a full week of rest in between starts that will hopefully re-energize him to go out and pitch brilliantly once more. Also....should the Mets fail into early trouble in the series, This allows them the capability of pitching both Harvey and deGrom on 3 days rest should they need to for Games 4 + 5, thus pushing Matz to Game 6 since Syndergaard would only be on 2 days rest by then.)

Jacob Shafer | Bleacher Report- Each one of Daniel Murphy's home runs this October wasn't accompanied by a cartoon cash-register sound effect, though they all probably should have been. Murphy slugged the New York Mets to the World Series, sure. But he's also bashing himself toward a hefty free-agent payday this winter. How hefty will it be? And how hefty should it be? "Obviously, he's not going to be as hot as he’s been in the postseason, but he plays positions where his power plays well," an unnamed American League general manager said of Murphy "[but] He’s going to be sought-after and get a five-year deal at around $75 million. Maybe more."
(Chris Soto: My oh my....I love Murphy! But....if $15M per season for 5 years is going to be the running rate for his services....then I'm sorry but I'm passing. I'd rather re-allocate those funds into locking up Cespedes. $15M per season is roughly equavilent to a 3.0 to 4.0 WAR player....I have much more in Cespedes reaching that 4.0 WAR mark on an annual basis then I do Murphy, who's WAR production suffers greatly from his poor defense.)

David Hong | Metsmerized Online- Mets veteran infielder Juan Uribe, who missed the NLDS and NLCS with a chest injury, could possibly be ready to join the Mets World Series roster. But even if he is not, he will still be present with them during the Fall Classic. “Because he’s been to this dance before,” manager Terry Collins said. “I think his presence in the clubhouse and on the bench would be huge.” Yoenis Cespedes looks to be improving. He took batting practice Sunday for the first time since his injury and expects to be ready for Game 1 of the World Series. “Compared to the first day, I feel a lot better,” Cespedes said. “I thought I could probably do a little bit more today, but I didn’t want to push myself. I wanted to give myself another day before I started doing stuff again.”

(Chris Soto: Good to see that Uribe and Cespedes will both be ready to go. This is the World Series guys.....it's all hands on deck time!)

The adding up of WAR is, to my mind, possibly the worst way to assess the value of Daniel Murphy.

I'd lock Daniel up, hopefully at a somewhat better rate. My belief is that if the Mets make him a strong offer, early, then he'd sign rather than try to squeeze out the last dollar elsewhere.

The status of David Wright is just so tenuous. Does anyone really believe he'll play 100 games next season, or any season, ever again? There must be a strong Plan B for 3B, IMO.

The amount of revenue that the Wilpons are raking in at this point is ridiculous. Sign Murphy, sign Cespedes, bring up Herrera, return to the postseason in 2016.

BTW, Cespedes is going to be in the $25 range.

The money is there, the need is there. I do think that there might be a point where Cespedes' money becomes crazy; I have no problem with 6/$150 or thereabouts. If it climbs to 8 years or above $175 -- if Seattle or somebody else goes nuts -- then I can understand pushing away from the table.

Both those guys would be smart to sign with the Mets, in New York. Get it done.

Depending on his health, if Uribe is healthy, he played 917 career games at SS. Seems he'd be OK in an emergency at SS. If Flores got disabled, finish the game with Uribe, and have Matt on the roster the next game.

Kirk at least has major league experience, Reynolds has none.

And Heck, it's been been several years since he shakily played there, but Lagares could fill in at SS for part of a game in a real pinch.

Personally, I think the Mets have a better chance of signing Cespedes than Murphy. This most probably will be the one time in his career that he could command a top multi-year contract that will insure the financial future of himself and his family. All the bleeding or orange and blue could go out the window once things come back to earth after the WS is over.

I think it would be really cool if, as the Mets win on the final play of the World Series, they could pipe in Bob Murphy's famous "the Mets Win! The Mets win the damned thing". The most memorable game-ending call I can think of in Mets history, off hand.

Fortunately for the Mets the ka-ching that Murphy has been racking up is moving slightly in the other direction for Cespedes. Had he continued his Mets regular season performance level in the post-season, you'd be seeing the stories about his payday. He's cooled somewhat and as such his price may have diminished slightly from what we were projecting in August and September.

Still, if someone throws Cano money at him, I'd have to pass rather than match it.

Okay, firstly, my feeling is that Sandy WAS content to let Murphy walk. But I also feel four things:

1) The Wilpons play a role in this decision;2) Murphy has opened some eyes here;3) David is a worry moving forward, and Murphy's flexibility is huge;4) The Mets can't lose both Cespedes and Murphy this offseason. It's not an option. This is the off-season that their cash register goes crazy, they sell tons of season tickets. Losing both of those guys is too off-message. It would be like, I don't know, posting about the Washington National free agency status on the day before the first Mets World Series in 15 years.

So my strategy would be:

Jeff takes out Murphy to a nice dinner, says all the right things, the Mets family & so on, and makes a strong pitch. Four years, $56 million. Stay, Daniel. We are built to win right now. You can be a lifelong Met and own this town, without the pressure of signing with another team. Etc. If Murph is bound and determined to test the market, you make a QO and see how it plays out. If he wants to go 5/$70, you shake hands right there. Done. This simply isn't a risky deal. The guy is solid and steady.

With Cespedes, that will be a whole lot tougher. He's a hard guy to read. I'd try to land him, but . . . this is going to be big boy money.

I just don't think the Mets can lose Murphy and then lose Cespedes and try to convince ANYONE they are putting themselves in position to make the postseason next year. Those ticket plans are predicated on the assumption of a real shot at the postseason.

I think Sandy got lucky this year, I really do. He wanted to trade for stupid Jay Bruce, who would have moved Conforto to the bench. Everything worked. But on July 31, the Mets were last in scoring in all of baseball. A great staff and no offense at all. A horrible job by the GM . . . until he woke up & got lucky.

Ah, the famous salmon dinner with Cano. No, that was just for show. I'd buy Daniel and his wife a nice meal, no agent (if that's possible), and tell him that tomorrow his agent is going to receive a formal, very serious business offer. But that tonight, it was time to let him know that the organization values him and wants him to stay within the Mets family, the opportunities are right here, don't leave without giving us a shot at keeping you, and so on. The meal would be steak.